The Chief Medical Advisor for President Joe Biden and head of the National Institute for Allergies and Infectious Disease (NIAID) who was also the face of America’s COVID-19 response has announced that he will resign from those positions effective in December.
“It has been the honor of a lifetime to have led the NIAID, an extraordinary institution, for so many years and through so many scientific and public health challenges. I am very proud of our many accomplishments,” Dr. Anthony Fauci said in his resignation announcement. “I have worked with – and learned from – countless talented and dedicated people in my own laboratory, at NIAID, at NIH and beyond. To them I express my abiding respect and gratitude.”
Fauci served as head of the NIAID for 38 years.
The controversial 81-year-old says that despite the fact that he is resigning, he is not retiring.
He says he plans “to pursue the next phase of my career while I still have so much energy and passion for my field.”
Fauci became a controversial political figure during the COVID-19 pandemic, and is known particularly for pushing mask mandates and lockdowns in the early days of the pandemic, and peddling vaccines in the pandemic’s later stages.
Those mask mandates, some say, were ineffective in combating the spread of the virus.
Several studies, including one from John’s Hopkins University, says those lockdowns did more harm than good in combating the virus. The long-term effects of the COVID-19 vaccine remain unknown, but many who have taken the shot and its multiple boosters are still contracting the virus, including Biden who contracted COVID-19 just weeks ago.
“Thanks to the power of science and investments in research and innovation, the world has been able to fight deadly diseases and help save lives around the globe,” Fauci said, ending his resignation announcement. “I am proud to have been part of this important work and look forward to helping to continue to do so in the future.”
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Pete D’Abrosca is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
